MIC Spa (Manifattura Italiana Cucirini), an Italian company specializing in the production of yarns for the fashion and apparel world for 40 years, continues to expand it offer of and include a wider range of yarns aimed at the knitwear segment.
For the fourth season, the Italian specialist has collaborated with designer Vittorio Branchizio, art director of Shima Seiki Italia, knitting machines manufacturer.
The new capsule collection, includes 12 outfits such as trousers, sartorial dresses, outerwear and shirts as part of the wide range of hybrid high-quality garments in knit and fabrics.
Tommaso Cumerlato, chief commercial officer, MIC, explained what projects and goals the company is focusing on.
MIC recently launched Extè 2.7 Soft, an elastane/polyamide made in Italy knitting yarn with excellent elastic and recovery properties. This yarn was developed for the knitting industry, which, as requested by our customers, needs to be very elastic, needs to be available in a variety of thicknesses and colors, as well as comfortable and compact.
We have designed this yarn for items that require a stretch and ergonomic effect, for double effects and “wholegarment” productions, to ensure elasticity in the finished knit, for wool and cashmere, and to achieve technical properties that cannot be obtained with yarns of animal or vegetable origin. It was on Shima Seiki machines, for fineness up to 21 needles.
We also made Golden GRS, a sewing yarn made from 100% recycled polyester for clean, uniform effects with reduced hairiness, dedicated to tailored men's and women's clothing.
How important is sustainability for MIC in terms of product offerings and percentage of sales?
Being sustainable for MIC means defining business development strategies with a view to ethical and environmental improvement and at the product offering level.
In terms of turnover, we have noticed a slight increase, but not that significant.
At the moment, one of the difficulties for our specific industry is the fact that the percentage of sewing thread used in the production of a garment is lower than other components. Because of this, brands and manufacturers focus on components that take up a larger percentage of the finished garment, so demand is still limited, except from brands that really care about the issue.
This does not mean that we have no responsibility. We, at MIC, believe that every business management and production choice, can be one more step toward more responsible production.
That is why we seek to develop and offer yarns from more responsible, recycled and biodegradable raw materials, tracking the entire process from start to finish, so that when many more brands demand that yarn also have measurable sustainability requirements, we will be ready to meet their needs–as we already are today–but without stopping our quest for improvement.
MIC is offering an increasingly wider range of knitting yarns. Does this segment represent a new development for the company?
The world of knitwear for MIC represents a new direction: although we have been suppliers in this sector for many years now, its continuous evolution is taking place in a market in which we believe significantly and which is giving us great satisfaction.
We started from knitwear for accessories such as collars, cuffs, as well as ribbons, panels and uppers, entering not only into knitwear, but also into a new concept of footwear.
We did all this by presenting specific products for this type of sector, including yarns already available with great delicacy and strength, from specific technical characteristics such as elasticity, such as Extè 2.7 Soft, others in the research and development phase, which will be available soon.
Did you develop these new yarns together with Vittorio Branchizio and exclusively for his brand and Sheima Seiki?
Between us at MIC and Shima Seiki Italy there is a well-established relationship of joint collaboration that has led us to collaborate for the fourth consecutive season. We have started a real innovative and stimulating partnership that has allowed us to work closely together in all phases of the production process: from prototyping to the yarn development phase.
How have sales and exports been going lately?
We ended 2022 reaching a group turnover of over €21 million, up 25% from 2021 and in line with pre-pandemic results by touching a 45% export quota.
The path of responsibility is increasingly determining our choices.
For years already, we have joined the "4sustainability Roadmap”, Process Factory's sustainable fashion brand. It is a real path to sustainability that is enabling MIC to be increasingly compliant with the MRSL ZDHC (ZDHC Manufacturing Restricted Substances List)-currently under standard 2.0, and with next year we aim to move to version 3.0.
We want to improve the traceability of each production batch through internal activities such as intensifying the screening of raw material suppliers, and reports working on specific SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of the European agenda, to ensure better wastewater quality, decreased water and energy consumption, and reduced CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, while improving partnerships with specialized companies.
By the end of 2022 we have reached new milestones through our efforts, in chemical management, research and development of new materials - recycled, biodegradable, responsibly produced, to name a few - reaching new certified levels.
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